Road Noise and Active Road Noise Cancellation Measurements (100 Things #94)
Road Noise and Active Road Noise Cancellation Measurements are easy with SoundCheck. Everyone’s familiar with measuring headphone active noise cancellation with SoundCheck, but did you know it’s also great for in-car measurements of road noise and evaluation of road noise cancellation systems? Simply connect the USB-powered AudioConnect 2 to your microphones and laptop, and start making measurements. Watch this short video to see how easy it is with this compact and cost-effective package.
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Read more about in-car road noise measurements.
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Video Script: Road Noise and Active Road Noise Cancellation Measurements
Everyone’s familiar with measuring headphone active noise cancellation with SoundCheck, but did you know it’s also great for measuring active road noise cancellation and road noise reduction in cars?
In this application, you want to measure the road noise at the location of the driver or passenger ears. A simple and cost-effective way to do this is to position two microphones near the outside of your ears or use a Head and Torso simulator. Here, we attached two SCM microphones to a Listen hat using some clips – we call this a low-budget HATS. This has the added advantage that if you are out on real roads, you can measure in the driver’s position.
Our configuration is simple. The microphones are connected to an AudioConnect 2 audio interface for microphone power and signal conditioning. This is a great application for this interface, as it’s USB powered, so you don’t need a power outlet in your car – you can just run it off your laptop. The AudioConnect 2 is connected via a single USB cable to the computer that is running SoundCheck for analysis.
As you can see, it’s a compact setup that easily fits on your dashboard or passenger seat.
To measure road noise, we simply need to drive at a fixed speed, remain silent – that means no talking, coughing, or children in the back seat – and record for a fixed period of time. You can then look at both the sound pressure level and the frequency spectra of the road noise.
To evaluate a road noise reduction system, simply repeat the measurement with the noise cancellation turned on and subtract one result from the other to provide a value for the noise-reduction system of the car.
This is just one of many automotive audio measurements you can make with SoundCheck. Others include end of line QC, evaluation of components, tuning, Max SPL, impulsive distortion, Buzz, Squeak and rattle, POLQA analysis of communications systems and more. Check out the automotive section of our website for more information.
